Washington – Today the U.S. Marshals Service concluded Operation Guardian, a
three-year, national initiative specifically targeting the country’s most
dangerous noncompliant sex offenders. Deputy marshals and law enforcement
partners arrested 345 individuals who had failed to register with state
authorities as required by law.

Marshals worked with state and local officials to identify specific
non-registering fugitives based on their danger to the public and prior
convictions for sex offenses. As of today, USMS investigators across the
country have located 427 offenders of the 444 sought (or 96 percent of those
targeted), including 82 individuals found outside the United States. These
individuals represent more than 500 prior convictions for sexual offenses.

“The United States Marshals Service will not tolerate noncompliant and
violent sex offenders who evade the law. The message we send to these
individuals is there is nowhere you can hide,” said Director Stacia Hylton
of the U.S. Marshals Service. “Operation Guardian enabled us to bring to
bear the full weight of international, federal, state and local law
enforcement resources and intelligence to locate the most egregious sex
offenders—those who have victimized innocent children.”

District of New Hampshire, U.S. Marshal David Cargill, Jr. said “During this
initiative in New Hampshire, we targeted one of the most dangerous types of
sex offender, the ones who prey on our children. Cargill continued, “We are
happy that we were able to take some of these offenders off of the streets,
so all of our citizens can rest a little easier.”

The USMS assigns 129 criminal investigators to conduct sex offender,
non-registrant investigations on a full-time basis. Operation Guardian was a
collaborative effort led by the Marshals Service in cooperation with
Interpol, the Diplomatic Security Service, Customs and Border Protection,
and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

“The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is proud to partner
with the U.S. Marshals in helping to protect our nation’s children,” said
John Ryan, chief executive officer, NCMEC. “We applaud the overwhelming
success of Operation Guardian which located hundreds of the country’s most
dangerous noncompliant sex offenders.”

Among those arrested during Operation Guardian from the District of New
Hampshire were:

On Oct. 10, 2010, fugitive sex offender, Timothy S. Lennox was arrested in
Marlborough, Conn. Lennox was wanted in Seabrook, N.H. for failure to
register as a sex offender. Lennox was originally convicted of a felonious
sexual assault on a minor under the age of 15, which occurred in August,
1994. Lennox served a twelve month sentence for the felonious sexual assault
and was required to register as a sex offender for life. Lennox initially
registered in N.H., but then moved and did not notify the Seabrook, N.H.
police department, or the New Hampshire State Sex Offender Registry as
required by law. After a thorough investigation, Deputy marshals developed
information that placed Lennox in Marlborough, Connecticut. Lennox was
located and arrested by USMS investigators in Connecticut. Lennox was
returned to New Hampshire, where he was convicted in U.S. District Court of
violating the Adam Walsh Act. This conviction resulted in a Lennox receiving
a 21 month federal sentence. Upon Lennox’s release from prison, he will be
under the supervision of a Federal Probation Officer for five years, as well
as his continued requirement to register as a sex offender for life.

On Oct 01, 2010, Felix Sanchez was arrested without incident in Humacao,
Puerto Rico. Sanchez was wanted in the State of New Hampshire for failure to
register as a sex offender. Sanchez’s original offense was for an indecent
assault and battery on a child under the age of fourteen, which occurred in
1992. After Sanchez pled guilty to this offense in December, 1997, he was
required to register as a convicted sex offender. During an investigation
involving another criminal offense in Keene, N.H., it was learned that
Sanchez was required to register as a sex offender and had not. In July,
2008 an arrest warrant was issued for Sanchez out of Keene, N.H. District
Court, for failure to register as a sex offender. While conducting the
investigation into the whereabouts of fugitive sex offender, Felix Sanchez,
the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force developed information indicating that
Sanchez had moved to Puerto Rico. This information was passed on to our
counterparts with the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force in Puerto Rico, who
quickly located and arrested Sanchez on 10/01/2010. Due to the location of
the arrest, the District of New Hampshire agreed to transfer the case to the
District of Puerto Rico for consideration for prosecution for Sanchez’s
violations of the Adam Walsh Act.

The Behavioral Analysis Unit at the USMS National Sex Offender Targeting
Center worked with the investigators to identify information related to the
fugitives across a number of personal or social dimensions, including past
sexual offending behavior. The prior convictions of the located offenders
represent hundreds of victims and thousands of known sexual assaults. Most
of the sexual assault events were engaged against children, and many
involved extreme violence.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates more than
700,000 sex offenders reside in the U.S. and that more than 100,000 are
classified as noncompliant or unregistered.
Since its inception in 2006, the SOIB has planned and executed more than 900
sex offender compliance and enforcement operations. During these operations,
the USMS partnered with more than 4,800 state and local law enforcement
agencies to conduct more than 150,000 compliance checks.